Russian âemigrâe Anna Rabinovich transforms Ravenscliffe, a Victorian villa solidly built from local stone, and catches the eye of two very different men, while at Netherwood Hall, the feckless heir and his American bride threaten the family's reputation.

Autorentext

Jane Sanderson is a former BBC radio producer. She lives with her husband, author and journalist Brian Viner, in Herefordshire, England.

Klappentext

For fans of Downton Abbey . . . The peaceful beauty of the English countryside belies the turmoil of forbidden love and the apprehension of a changing world for the families of Netherwood

Yorkshire, 1904. On Netherwood Common, Russian émigré Anna Rabinovich shows her dear friend Eve Williams a gracious Victorian villa?Ravenscliffe?the house Anna wants them to live in. There's a garden and a yard and room enough for their children to play and grow.

Something about the house speaks to Anna, and you should listen to a house, she believes...Ravenscliffe holds the promise of happiness.

Across the square, Clarissa and her husband, the Earl of Netherwood, are preparing for King Edward's visit. Clarissa is determined to have everything in top shape at Netherwood Hall?in spite of the indolent heir to the estate, Tobias, and his American bride?and much of it depends on the work going on downstairs as the loyal servants strive to preserve the noble family's dignity and reputation.

As Anna restores Ravenscliffe to its full grandeur, she strikes up a relationship with hardworking Amos Sykes?who proposed to Eve just one year ago.

But when Eve's long-lost brother Silas turns up in their close-knit mining community, cracks begin to appear in even the strongest friendships.

As change comes to the small town and society at large, the residents of Netherwood must find their footing or lose their place altogether.